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Grian groaned softly as he woke up, light streaming in from the window. He felt horrible.
His head was swimming and his nose was stuffed, forcing him to breathe through his mouth. He was sick, no doubt about it.
He rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he sat up, looking at the clock next to his bed. The glowing red letters read "7:54 AM."
Gord, it was early. Grian winced at the loud snoring coming from Sam, who was asleep in the bed across from him.
Grian climbed out of bed, wrapping his blanket around him as he shivered. He shuffled to the bathroom, doing his business quickly.
After washing his hands, he made his way to the "kitchen" in his dorm. It wasn't a proper kitchen, but it was where they kept their food.
Kneeling down, he dug into the cabinet under the sink, searching for some medicine.
He finally found it, sighing when he saw a nearly empty bottle. There was maybe half a dose left in the bottle. Of course nobody said anything.
He didn't even bother looking for a medicine cup, simply opening the bottle and drinking the rest.
At least it was high strength, hopefully it would help a small bit.
Grian slumped on the couch. He was glad it was Saturday, no classes to miss.
He was the first one up, though Taurtis should be getting up soon, he had a shift today at 10.
As if he could read Grian's thoughts, Taurtis walked out of his room, fully dressed in his work uniform.
Taurtis didn't have to leave for another hour, give or take, but he liked to be ready so he had time to sit around.
"Why are you up so early?" Taurtis raised an eyebrow at the lump on the couch.
"Sick." Grian's voice was hoarse, the medicine doing nothing to wet his throat.
"Do you want me to get you some stuff? Like… water?"
Grian nodded. He didn't feel like moving, he'd probably tip over if he tried standing.
He must have zoned out, as it felt like Taurtis had returned in the blink of an eye.
Taurtis handed him a water bottle, which Grian began drinking greedily from, the cold water soothing to his throat.
"I grabbed these too, thought you'd like them." Grian looked up from the water bottle, smiling when Taurtis handed him his stuffed bear. Stuck in the bear's clothes was his pen, he shoved it there last night so he wouldn't lose it.
"Can you get some more medicine on your way home from work?" Grian questioned before taking a hit of his pen.
The smoke wouldn't be good on his throat, but the weed helped him focus sometimes, he hoped it would help level his head a bit. He stopped caring about his throat's health a long time ago anyways.
"I'll be back late, Gri. You won't get the medicine until like… six." Taurtis was pouring himself some cereal as he spoke.
"Better medicine late than no medicine at all."
"How about you get Sam to run to the corner store for you when he gets up?" Taurtis took a bite of his cereal, milk dripping down his chin.
"I'll have to bribe him, you know that."
Taurtis shrugged, draining the leftover milk from his bowl and placing it in the sink.
"I'll buy some after I get out of work, but you should try him anyway. It wouldn't hurt."
Taurtis pressed a kiss on Grian's forehead before heading to the door. "I'll see you later, get some rest."
Grian nodded, pulling his blanket tighter around him. His body felt cold even though his head felt like it was on fire.
He buried his face into his stuffed bear, closing his eyes for a moment. His eyelids felt so heavy.
He must have fallen asleep, as he was being shaken awake by Sam.
"Hey, wake up! Do you wanna order some doordash?"
Sam didn't stop shaking Grian until he looked up at him, squinting at the bright light. Sam must have turned on the big light.
Out of the three of them, Sam was the only one who didn't like the little lights. Taurtis preferred natural light, while Grian liked lamps and leds.
"You can order whatever. I don't think my stomach can handle taco bell right now anyways." Grian waved his hand in the air, trying to get Sam to leave him alone.
"Well, I don't have doordash money. But you do! So I was hoping maybe you'd want to get something…" Sam trailed off, grinning sheepishly at Grian.
Grian rolled his eyes. "I'll buy you taco bell if you go get me some cold medicine from 7/11."
Sam whined in a way that reminded Grian of his younger cousins when they were toddlers. "That defeats the whole point of doordashing! Then I have to go outside!"
"Then no taco bell for Samuel." Grian turned so he was facing the back of the couch, his face away from Sam.
Sam groaned. "Fine. Gimme the money."
"My wallet's on my desk. Go wild."
Sam pumped his fist in the air, running into their shared bedroom.
"I'll get you some food too, okay?" Not waiting for an answer, Sam ran out the door.
Around half an hour later, Grian jumped in fright at the sound of his phone ringing. He had nearly dozed off again, but the sound had woken him up.
It was Sam. Sighing, he answered the call.
"So… I know you're super sick and yucky but… I left my ID upstairs. I need you to bring it down so I can get in…"
Grian nearly hung up on him then and there.
"Are you serious?"
"I know… I didn't do it on purpose I promise! The really strict guy's watching the lobby. He won't let me up without an ID."
"Gimme a minute." Grian ended the call, slowly standing up.
Grian took a long hit from his pen, taking his time in getting down to Sam.
Pulling his blanket around his shoulders, Grian shoved his pen and phone into his pocket.
He then walked to the hooks by the door, where he made Taurtis and Sam put their IDs every day.
They'd get locked out 24/7 if it wasn't for him.
Grabbing both his and Sam's lanyards, Grian started to make his way downstairs.
He shuffled into the elevator, pressing the ground floor button. As the elevator went down, he leaned against the wall. His head was spinning.
After what felt like ages, Grian was in the lobby.
Stepping out of the elevator, he scowled at Sam, who was standing by the doors looking like an abandoned puppy.
Grian walked up to the front desk, dropping both lanyards on the counter.
"You know us, Pete. You know we live here. You know Sam lives here." The cold from the tiled floor was seeping through his socks, making Grian shiver.
"I also know that Sam annoys me. Go on up."
Grian rolled his eyes, taking the lanyards back. He walked over to the elevator, looking at Sam expectantly.
Realizing he could go upstairs, Sam ran into the elevator.
As soon as the doors closed Sam began apologizing.
"Save it. Did you get the medicine?"
Sam nodded, turning to take a good look at Grian for the first time that day. Grian looked like shit. His cheeks were flushed and his hair was damp with sweat.
The elevator ride was quiet.
Not a word was spoken between the two of them until the door to their dorm was shut.
"Where's the medicine?"
Sam dug into his shopping bag, pulling out a bright orange bottle of cold medicine. Pulling the plastic off, he attempted to open the bottle.
Attempting was as far as he got. Grian sighed, taking the bottle from him and opening it with ease. After pouring himself a dose, Grian handed the bottle back to Sam.
Grian took the medicine like a shot, grimacing at the artificial taste. It was like they didn't even try to make it taste good anymore.
He went to move to the couch, but was stopped by a hand on his arm.
"Dude, you look like shit."
"Thanks, Sam." He tried to pull away, but Sam's grip was strong.
"Let me take care of you? I'll be like your personal butler for the day!" Sam grinned.
"Are you trying to make up for making me go downstairs?"
Sam was quiet for a moment.
"Is it working?"
"A little."
Sam grinned. That was enough for him. He led Grian to the sink, wetting a washcloth and wiping his face off.
Sam then ran the cloth under some cold water, wringing it out. Tilting Grian's head up a small bit, he placed it on his forehead.
"Wouldn't it be better if I sat down for this?"
"Well, yeah. But I wanna lay with you!"
"I'm like a fireplace right now, Sam. You don't wanna be too close."
Sam rolled his eyes, waving off Grian's words like they were nothing to him.
"Go sit, but I'm gonna lay with you eventually."
Grian pulled his bear close to him, curling up on the couch. The cold medicine was kicking in, making his head spin.
"Open your mouth." Grian felt something pressing against his lips.
"It's a gummy, I'm not trying to poison you."
Grian opened his mouth, chewing the gummy Sam gave him.
"Hopefully that'll get your appetite up. It's almost noon, you gotta eat something."
"I'm not eating any taco bell."
"I got you a quesadilla, but I put that in the fridge. Try eating this." Sam passed him an applesauce pouch.
"Google said applesauce is easy on the stomach." Sam smiled before beginning to eat his food.
Once the two of them were done eating, Sam stood up, walking over to Grian.
"Do you wanna lay with me now?"
"What do you mean by lay with you?"
Apparently, laying with him meant Sam laying down on the couch with Grian on top of him.
The way they were situated had Grian's ear resting on Sam's chest. He could hear Sam's heartbeat, it was quite soothing.
With the rhythmic thumping of Sam's heart paired with the soothing feeling of Sam stroking his hair, Grian fell asleep.